Flow regulation and safety valves of various sorts are known in the art for flow regulation of fluids such as gases and liquids. The following U.S. patents are representative of the state of this art.
______________________________________ 4,141,380 - Feb. 27, 1979 Lenk 3,996,961 - Dec. 14, 1976 Siegwart 3,973,410 - Aug. 10, 1976 Putman et al. 3,965,928 - June 29, 1976 Siegwart 3,841,350 - Oct. 15, 1974 Griensteidl et al. 2,131,025 - Sept. 27, 1938 Danel ______________________________________
This prior art, however, has a significant deficiency in that the valves when inserted into a fluid flow path greatly disturb the flow pattern causing significant turbulence and flow losses because they present a substantial cross section in the flow path or require special orifices or flow contortions in their operation.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide improved flow regulation safety valve means operable in response to fluid flow without introducing significant losses or turbulence into the routine normal fluid flow path.